Prayer for the Day

by Revd Canon David White

21st December 2025 - 4th Sunday of Advent

Lord Jesus,
you come quietly, seeking welcome.
Clear away my fear and hurry.
Make space in me for your light, your peace, your love.
May my heart be a manger
open and ready for your coming. Amen.

This Sunday we are reminded that a young teenager called Mary became the mother of Jesus. The Gospel reading tells how, in the final stage of her pregnancy, she and her partner Joseph make a long journey to an unfamiliar and crowded city where they have no guarantee of lodging or welcome. We cannot imagine making such a trip today in such circumstances. Yet Mary and Joseph had no option not only because the Roman census allowed no exception but, more importantly, because they are both shown as allowing themselves to respond to God’s call – even when they didn’t fully understand what was happening.

Las Posadas is a tradition originating in Mexico in which children re-enact the journey of Joseph and Mary as they looked for shelter in Bethlehem by visiting designated local houses. This prayer is said after the Posada procession and is a reminder that the question isn’t whether Christ is coming, but whether there’s room for him - in our country, our community, in us, in me. What an example to us all as we face uncertainty, or problems that seem bigger than our ability to cope. This Advent, I wonder what God is asking of us?

 

25th December 2025 - Christmas Day

 

Lord Jesus,
you were born in poverty
and laid in a manger.
Open our hearts to see you
in the poor and the forgotten.
Help us walk with humility,
love with courage,
and make room where there is none. Amen.

Christ entered our world on the margins. No place in the inn, cradled in a manger, and greeted, not by the great and the good but by shepherds, the lowliest of all folk at that time. Yet whatever their class, rank or status, all who are drawn to greet him lying in that manger, bring their own gifts. The shepherds bring lambs. The Magi, wise ones from the east, bring their significant and symbolic gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Christina Rosetti’s poem and carol suggests what gift we can bring:

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man, I would do my part,
Yet what can I give him: give my heart.

Today’s prayer says that as well as ‘giving’ our hearts we also need, at the same time, to open them for the Christ-child whom we still see in the poor and forgotten of our own day. And then, in whatever way we feel able, to provide some sort of practical help and sustenance. Maybe a donation, or a gift of food or toiletries for a foodbank. Or maybe, the offer of the gift of ourself, in love and service.

 

28th December 2025 - The Holy Innocents

 

O God, the Spirit of truth,
help us to be truthful with one another.
O God, the Spirit of gentleness,
help us to be gentle with one another.
O God, who knows what is in our hearts
more clearly than we do ourselves,
help us to hear one another.
O God, lead us in the way of truth and love.  Amen.

This prayer by Richard Harries, a former Bishop of Oxford, is relevant for today when the reading from St Matthew’s Gospel tells of how Joseph is warned in a dream that King Herod is about to launch a murderous assault on all very young children in Judea in an attempt to eliminate the perceived rivalry of Jesus to his power. Jesus, Mary and Jospeh are therefore compelled to escape to Egypt until the threat that Herod poses is past. So today, the focus of our attention turns to this fragile family unit that is Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

There is often a sense of nostalgia, romance and sentimentalism about the birth of Jesus. This can be heard in many Christmas Carols and seen in Christmas cards. At the same time, it is difficult for us to know what life was like for this family and the gospels tell us so little. Like many families they will have had their routines, customs, favourite pastimes and we have to be careful about “bubble-wrapping” them. We need to know that they experienced not only joy and happiness in being together as a family, but also the struggles as well that families have always had to live through.

This prayer asks God to help us in the important ways of truthfulness, gentleness and deep listening – all of which are at the heart of family life.

 

4th January 2025 - Epiphany

 

God of gold, we seek your glory:
the richness that transforms our drabness into colour,
and brightens our dullness with vibrant light;
your wonder and joy at the heart of all life.

God of incense, we offer you our prayer:
our spoken and unspeakable longings, our questioning of truth;
our search for your mystery deep within.

God of myrrh, we cry out to you in our suffering:
the pain of all our rejections and bereavements,
our baffled despair at undeserved suffering,
our rage at continuing injustice;

and we embrace you, God-with-us,
in our wealth, in our yearning, in our anger and loss.   Amen.

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany – a time of starlight, magi and gifts. We hear the stories of those first pilgrim wise men seeking the new born Jesus; of a dove descending on God’s newly baptised Son, and of water turned to wine in Jesus’s first miracle at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. In hearing these stories, we realise that living as one of us, Jesus will know love and hatred, joy and sorrow, hope and despair, worship and crucifixion. He does not flinch from experiencing fully what it means to be human.

This prayer by the United Reformed Church Minister, Jan Berry, speaks for itself and can be said as we offer the best of who we are as our own gifts to Jesus as we too seek paths of starlight and wonder.